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Latvia

Serviced by national (cheap) airline airbaltic.

Culture/language

Latvian is a member of the Baltic language family, which is only related to Lithuanian (not close to Russian). Young people do tend to speak English, and we didn't have trouble getting around without knowing any Latvian.

There is a very significant Russian minority in Latvia (~30%, or higher in Riga), and there is a lot of tension between the two groups. Individually, they were both nice to us, but each was unhappy with the other groups. There are a number of people with Russian heritage without citizenship (to any country)– they need to learn Latvian to be eligible. ===

Geography

The country is very flat and forested.

Riga

“The Paris of the North”. Riga has a very nice Art Noveau section, in addition to older buildings in “Old Riga”.

Riga is also the bachelor party capital of Europe– Brits tend to go there to do things like AK-47 shooting and bobsledding.

Make sure to get a guidebook at the info station at the airport! It's quite useful!

Getting around

The 22 bus will take you from the airport into town; get off at Stockmann center (train/bus depot) for the center of town. There are also shuttles for 3 lats/5 Euros. Taxis should cost no more than 10 lats/20 USD into town.

The city itself is pretty walkable, but taxis are cheap and useful for late nights.

Food

Double coffee=Starbucks there, but also a restaurant. Coffee Inn is more coffee-house like, and has internet.

General food is much like Russian food– Borscht, sauerkraut, sausages, and stranger items like chicken with cheese and pineapple (quite good).

Bars
  • Leningrad is pretty chill, reminiscent of Soviet Days
  • Skyline bar in the Radisson has one of the highest views in the city. Expensive by Latvian standards (comparable to U.S.), but very nice and chill.

Be careful to avoid places listed as suspicious by the U.S. embassy (I'm pretty sure they were all strip clubs). The info is in the guidebook.

To Do
  • The Ethnographic museum is really really cool, and probably the top thing you should do. Take the 1 bus there or a taxi (10 lats/20 USD). It has houses/villages from 16th-19th century Latvia (it's in the woods), and is like a Latvian Colonial Williamsburg.
  • Take a free walking tour. Meets at noon outside of St. Peter's church, takes about 2.5 hours. Very informative!
  • Check out the Occupation Museum
  • Walk around the market
  • Go bobsledding
  • Shoot AK-47s if you are so inclined